The U.S. border with Mexico would be secured within a year if Mike Huckabee is elected president, the former Arkansas governor told
Newsmax TV on Thursday.
"Seal the border," the Republican candidate told "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth. "We can do that — and we certainly can do it in less than a year."
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He referenced the Alaska Highway, built during World War II between the United States and Canada. Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt touted the $30 million project as a way to quickly reinforce America in a foreign crisis.
Construction began in March 1942 and ended that October.
"Seventy-three years ago, we built a road between British Columbia and Alaska," Huckabee told Hayworth. "A 1,700-mile road in some of the most difficult terrain and difficult weather conditions on Earth — and we did it in less than a year, and that was with the engineering capability of 73 years ago.
"Think about being able to build a secure border," he said.
Before doing anything else on immigration, the border must be fortified.
"Nothing else matters. Step one is to secure the border," Huckabee said. "People don't take our laws seriously because we don't enforce them, and we don't enforce laws if we don't enforce a border.
"Step one: Enforce that border. Step two: If people break the law once they are here, there should be no question about the consequences of that. They should have to go home.
"Sending them home doesn't work if the border isn't secure."
He cited the July 1 death of Kathryn Steinle, 32, who was allegedly shot to death last month by an illegal immigrant, Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, 52, who has seven felony convictions and has been deported to Mexico five times.
"That should never have happened," Huckabee told Hayworth. "It wouldn't have happened had that border been secured — so that's where it all starts."
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